Meanings
plural friaresses
- A female friar.
There were friaresses in Europe, but the Church was very uncomfortable with them.
2018, Ingrid Barton, The Little History of Yorkshire, The History Press, →ISBN2 more examples
He put upon his friars and friaresses obligations which proclaimed openly and fearlessly a direct and radical social regeneration.
1899, The Messenger of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, page 1182Similar letters to the bishop of Salamanca and bishops in Italy indicate the existence of a movement of wandering friaresses on an international scale.
1996, Jo Ann Kay McNamara, Sisters in Arms: Catholic Nuns Through Two Millennia, Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 310
Origin
- Middle Englishfreresse
- Englishfriaress
From Middle English freresse; equivalent to friar + -ess. Piecewise doublet of fratress.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
friaress. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/friaress
“friaress.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/friaress. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “friaress,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/friaress.
Source: friaress on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.